Framing Homelessness as a Public Health Emergency: Dominant Narratives & Policy Implications in Minneapolis Local TV News

Abstract

Abstract Homelessness reflects a housing system in crisis, a profound public health challenge, and a manifestation of structural racism that has produced stark racial disparities in exposure to homelessness. While framing homelessness as a public health issue may highlight structural inequities, it also risks reinforcing racialized stigmas that justify punitive responses. This study examines local TV news coverage of homelessness in Minneapolis, MN, ahead of City officials declaring unsheltered homelessness as a “public health emergency” in December 2023. We conducted a content analysis of 221 news segments aired by four local broadcast networks between July and December 2023, amid contentious public debate about homelessness. Using keyword searches of closed-captioning transcripts, we analyzed how these segments framed the causes of, and solutions to, homelessness and housing instability, with a specific focus on the use of public health language. We found structural causes of homelessness were rarely discussed, and nonstructural or punitive solutions were referenced more than twice as often as structural solutions. When public health frames were used, they were often ambiguous or conflated the wellbeing of unhoused people with the perceived safety or disorder of the surrounding community. Our findings also highlight a racialized erasure of the unhoused, as only 14% of stories featured unhoused individuals speaking. Media portrayals of homelessness may risk weaponizing public health language to legitimize carceral responses rather than addressing housing inequity. In particular, such framings could provide a pretense for actions like encampment sweeps, which ultimately deepen health inequities and reinforce racialized perceptions of safety or disorder.